March 31, 2006

TEMPE, Ariz. - UNLV women's golf is in third place and Elena Kurokawa is near the top of the leaderboard after the opening round of the PING/ASU Invitational, being on Arizona State's golf course, the par 72, 6,230-yard ASU Karsten Golf Course.

Kurokawa, a senior for the Rebels, carded a two-under 70 in her first 18 holes to help UNLV shoot a team score of two-over 290, which is seven strokes off the pace that host Arizona State set. The Sun Devils have the first-round lead with a five-under 283 and ASU's Tiffany Tavee leads all individuals with a six-under 66.

UCLA shot an even-par 288 and is in second place, followed by UNLV, Pepperdine (292, +4) and Tulsa (293, +5) rounds out the top five teams. Caney Hines of Texas is alone in second place with a four-under 68 while a pair of golfers is tied for third at two-under, followed by a group of Kurokawa and Ashley Knoll of Texas A&M in fifth.

Kurokawa was four under through 13 holes, getting birdies on holes 6, 8, 11 and 12 before she rolled in pars on the next five holes, bringing her to the 18th. The closing hole proved difficult for Kurokawa, as she double-bogeyed to close her round at two under.

Da Sol Chung also cracked the top 10 for the Rebels after the opening round, shooting an even-par 72 to open the tournament. Chung, only a freshman, has finished in the top 10 in her last four collegiate tournaments. She had a triple bogey on hole six, but battled back to get to par, rolling in birdies on her final two holes.

Seema Sadekar and Grace Woo are both tied for 27th as each shot a two-over 74 in their first 18 holes and Young Pak rounds out the UNLV squad in tied for 41st with a four-over 76. Kasi Lee, a freshman transfer, is playing as an individual and shot a four-over 76 as well.

The tournament continues Saturday with teams scheduled to tee off 8:00 a.m. (PDT) on both holes one and 10. Fans can get full results and follow the tournament live by clicking here.